Are
we really the best ummah?Inspired
by a Khutba at Harvard on "Assimilation of Muslims. Or, Islamization of
Knowledge"Large chunks
of the text are taken from the above article

It has become fairly common
theme among activist (western born) Muslims to glorify themselves, below
is a sample :

We have a chance to be a unique kind
of Muslim: a American Muslim. Those who are coming of age in the west,
are perhaps the best generation that the Ummah has yet produced; They are
highly educated, observant of an Islam largely unhindered by the cultural
baggage that stifles so many Muslim countries. For the first time in history,
the dominant powers in the West contain millions of Muslims, There is absolutely
nothing that can stop determined Muslims from becoming policy makers and
leaders in our government. It is a great irony that the Muslim world's
brightest hope lies not in a warlord come to deliver them of their woes,
a Salahuddin or Khairuddin Pasha, nor in a new movement, but in highly
educated and sophisticated westerners who happen to be followers of Islam."

We have a chance to be a unique
kind of Muslim: a American Muslim. Are you implying you have fused
American Culture and Islam and this makes you superior to other Muslims?

Best generation that the Ummah
has yet produced, how does one come to this conclusion? Surely the
Prophet Muhammad and his companions should feature as the Best.

They are highly educated.
So why then are we currently :

"importing" khatibs/"scholars" etc.
from abroad who are unaware of the social context and dynamics of this
society.

Placing people with insufficient knowledge
to head and lead our Islamic centers, because there is no one available
with sufficient knowledge.

Ok then could they mean Science and
Technology? This is a fast changing area. I have the following points to
make :

During the Golden age of Islam, Muslims
lead and nurtured Science, Mathematics and Astronomy. Are you comparing
what you have been taught with that of a Ummah who lead and discovered.
Even non-musilms have remarked on the strong contrast of the Dark Ages
in the West and the Golden Age of Islam.

Who will remember if we were technically
very good during the latter half of the 20th century ? Future generations
may even regard current technology is primitive?

If you equate "highly educated" for
"Science and Technology" you may get the distinction of the LAST ummah
(not BEST UMMAH).

Largely unhindered by the cultural
baggage that stifles so many Muslim countries. Ok this is largely true,
but you have been only here for 30 odd years. Already a Cultural baggage
is materializing:

Many are Celebrating Birthdays and sending/receiving
cards

Many are Celebrating Christmas and sending/receiving
cards

Anniversaries

Reduced status of parents (and lack
of respect).

Lack of spirituality replaced by demands
on science

Remeber this is in 30 years! It may
be a different cultural baggage but it is one never the less.

There is absolutely nothing that
can stop determined Muslims from becoming policy makers and leaders in
our government. Notice the emphasis on joining the power-elite as the
solution to the Muslim world's problems.

Highly educated and sophisticated
westerners who happen to be followers of Islam

Educated and Sophisticated compared
to whom?

Surely a Muslim first who lives in the
west

When I first heard the above quotation
it to me conjured up and image of some hypocrite at a dinner party in a
posh English accent and manner trying to shock his guests.

Now, how come we are producing this
kind of thinking?

Our minds are colonized and that
is all that is necessary in this day and age. England does not need to
send in 100,000 troops anymore to India, nor does the United States need
to send in a million troops to Pakistan to colonize us. All that they need
to do is to colonize our minds, which we are letting them do.

We cannot pretend that educating
people in a certain mode of thinking through their entire formal schooling
years will not fail to produce a certain kind of individual, whose world
view will not be in accord with the Qur'an and the sunnah.

As I said, this argument is entirely
typical of the attitude of thousands of young Muslim activists in this
country - i.e., those who see themselves as committed and truly sincere.
Hence, even sincerity is often not enough when it comes to having independence
of thought and appropriateness of action in accordance with Islamic imperatives.

It is fairly obvious how we got to
this extremely dangerous point. But a lot can still be done to take charge
of the situation and to radically change course.

The way out is to abandon the brand
of activism that today passes for Islamic commitment. If we leave this
whole scenario and return some years later, believe me, nothing will have
changed. There will still be the same problems, the same dilemmas.

We have to realize that there are
no easy, immediately implementable, one-word solutions. Do ------ (fill
in the blank) and everything will be all right. Systematically, some of
us have to remove ourselves from this mud (recognize that involvement with
the community is an absolute must, but mostly as a way of keeping in touch
with the reality of the situation and the actual needs of real Muslims,
not as a way of expecting to make some "contribution" that can, in the
immediate future, alter things in a substantial way) and begin thinking
about the future - even the distant future.

I believe that one of the biggest
mistakes we have consistently been making for many decades (and even longer)
is to say, let's take care of things now, we have to do this for the short-term.
As a result, almost all of our efforts get diverted into stop-gap measures.
It may seem brutal (but it isn't) that certain immediate "needs" might
have to be ignored (don't worry, "activists" will jump in and fill the
void if you exit this sphere) for the sake of the future.

In short, I believe that the real
challenge is not fighting to regain the lost territory of Palestine or
Kashmir or whatever - even if we regained the lost territory, what shall
we teach these Muslim children? What will be the basis of the "newly-liberated"
society?

Our prescriptions are flawed because
we see the source of enslavement in physical occupation, when in fact this
mode of occupation is passe and only the more brute forces of certain groups
of people (in Serbia, in India, in Israel, for instance) demand the imposition
of such rule.

It is not that you can send your
child to a so-called "Islamic school" and simultaneously assault them with
confusing signals from the rest of the environment around them and expect
to produce a healthy, mature, wise, knowledgeable Muslim adult.

Is there an "Islamic biology" or
"Islamic physics" to teach this child? Has any Muslim written decently
on world history over the last 100 years from the Islamic point of view?
If not, how can we teach children history written from an unIslamic perspective
and expect them to remain "Islamic"? If the child does so, he/she will
certainly be terribly confused and the seeds for loss of faith will already
have been implanted.

We have a clear choice to make.
Either we can want to hold on to our "comfort" zone - most of us have found
something to give us comfort, something to hold on to, something to disguise
the darkness of Muslim society and of its tremendous problems. Most of
us have come to the position of saying, oh, things are not that bad, there
are many Islamic "movements" making a contribution, we are improving, etc.,
etc. Either we believe in these fantasies - or, we decide that we will
not choose comfort for the sake of real work, and decide to change our
own lives first, and work on a certain vision for the future.